Books like Holy Bible: New Living Translation

I grew up reading the King James Version ("KJV") of the Bible. A few years ago I laughed at modern Bible translations. "They don't even come close to the historic and poetic language of the KJV," I would argue. That was until I actually picked up the New Living Translation ("NLT") and read the whole thing. It was refreshing! I could actually understand the Bible! I especially enjoyed the NLT's thought-for-thought translation. This is important because many phrases used in Hebrew hundreds of years ago don't make sense to us today when we read their word-for-word translation. The result: I loved reading the Bible. Many books that I struggled with before, such as Isaiah, became page turners. I even found new favorite verses that I had not noticed before.While I will always look to my church leaders for guidance involving interpretation of the scriptures, the NLT is a great way to gain a greater understanding of the Bible.